Serhat Caradee

Writer/Director/co-Producer of ‘Cedar Boys’. It’s gestation started in 2002, let me take you to the beginning…

2001 - While attending New York University (NYU) International Student Film Festival (NYC) with my AFTRS short film ‘Bound’, I had the kernel of the idea brewing in my head about a story of outsiders living in Sydney. Being in NYC where some of my favourite films where made (’Mean Streets’, ‘Raging Bull’, ‘Taxi Driver’, ‘Bad Lieutenant’ and others) at the time, it occurred to me that there wasn’t a film coming out of Australia about a marginalised group of people. All I kept hearing from people after I told them I was from Australia, was the usual… ‘Mad Max’, ‘Crocodile Dundee’, ‘Priscilla’ and sometimes one of my favorites ‘Chopper’,

2002 - Once I got back from my round trip of festivals which started with Melbourne and then NYC, Turkey, Germany and Singapore I began the first draft of ‘Cedar Boys’. Which included research and observation into various nightclubs, bars and certain car hangouts and talking to some serious underworld figures. I also based some of the characters personality traits on some of my Lebanese and other close friends. This gave me a good understanding of how they talk, react, behave and view the world.

2003 - February, attend Berlin Talent Campus, Berlin Film Festival Germany. Where I was inspired by all the various guest advisors and other filmmakers kept me writing on…

2003 - June, after 12 months of writing in the dead of night (11pm till sometimes 3 or 4am) I had my 172 page first draft of “Cedar Boys” the movie. Which I then gave to Stephen Vagg (AFTRS writing graduate). His positive, encouraging and constructive feedback gave me the impetus to continue on. The second draft popped out a month later at 152 pages. This was given to Deborah Parsons (script editor/reader for AFC/FFC/ Film Vic). Deborah said that while structurally “Cedar Boys” had it’s problems (too long, too much dialogue, slow start etc) the story had “authenticity, honesty and a lot of heart”. Deborah loved the characters, story and messages the film was giving out. Head down, I wrote draft 3, this one came in at 129 pages. Further writing and development produced draft 4. By late 2003 I hooked up with another AFTRS friend Daniella Ortega and producer of our short film ‘Bound’. We then applied for the New South Wales Film & Television Office (NSWFTO) - Aurora program for script development.

2003 - November/December, Kevin Jackson (NIDA) acting teacher and friend, tips me off about 2 actors at NIDA, Les Chantery (3rd year student) & Buddy Dannoun (1st year student). I meet them both and give them the script to read.

On December 13th the first ever full reading of the “Cedar Boys” script with actors and guests which was video taped at my place. Some of the actors at this reading eventually ended up in the film: Les Chantery, Buddy Dannoun, Hani Malik, Dean Tuttle.

2004 - “Cedar Boys” is short listed for NSWFTO Aurora Program (script development). By April 2004, we found out that we were not accepted. However all short listed applicants receive the 3 readers reports/assessments. Based on these reports I did another polish and we applied to the inaugural Australian Film Commission (AFC) IndiVision script development initiative.

2005 - “Cedar Boys” is one of 8 selected scripts for the first IndiVision program which includes the 5 day lab/script workshop in Feb:

There were many advisors from overseas and Australia, including director Rumle Hammerich from Denmark, producer Joshua Zeman (The Station Agent) from the US, and locally Rolf De Heer, Rob Marchand, Joan Sauers and many others. During the Lab the intense script work-shopping and input received, opened the script to some heavy constructive feedback.

Daniella and I also shot one scene from the script on video with Les Chantery, Waddah Sari ( ‘Bound’ short film) , Buddy Dannoun. Nick Parsons was one of our script advisers and we ended up choosing him as our script editor for the next 2 drafts of “Cedar Boys”.

2005 - October, at this point I was being advised to take the script in many different directions, I was at a loss and confused with all the notes and feedback I was receiving from so many different sources, which muddled my overall intention and vision for the story and script of “Cedar Boys”. Joan Sauers (writer, script editor) reads “Cedar Boys” on behalf of the AFC. Her readers report was a breath of fresh air, she understood what the script was about, the messages in the sub-text, the characters world and most importantly the films value and contribution to the Australian film industry. With this I gunned down and stuck hard on the core strand and message to this story… about 3 young Lebanese boys, who are sick of being misrepresented by the media, who are excluded from certain places and clubs, who want to have a better life, and how and why young middle eastern boys fall into crime, why they choose crime and who their role models are…

2005 - Sunday, 11th December - Cronulla Riots. A dark day in Australian multi-cultural history. Lots of media coverage, discussions, debates and reports focused the attention on Middle Eastern boys. Somehow this gave me the imputes to keep the story of “Cedar Boys” focused on the boys, (A plot) the 3 main Lebanese characters I created and not a story about a boy from the western suburbs who meets a girl from the other side of Sydney which was the B plot.

2006 - January, I continue on with further polishes and workshops of the script, now spending my own time and money organising other filmmakers and friends to come over to my place and spend the weekend working on the script, to bounce ideas off and to get outside perspectives on the narrative and characters…

2006 - May, again another “Cedar Boys” weekend script workshop (my birthday weekend) where I really locked down the structure, logic and authenticity of the characters world. Having different points of view and early constructive criticism from friends and fellow practitioners who think outside of normal storytelling methods and want to tell different stories than our usual film releases that come out of Australia.

2006 - June, “Cedar Boys” script workshop with actors and Rob Marchand (Mike Leigh Technique) at a church in Newtown. Les Chantery, Waddah Sari and others participate. Around this time, I am nominated for an Australian Writers Guild - AWGIE,  ‘Best un-Produced Screenplay’ for “Cedar Boys”.

2006 - July, with my own money and a very small crew, including cinematographer Peter Holland, actors Les Chantery, Waddah Sari, Buddy Dannoun and friends, we shoot 3 scenes from the script as a “Cedar Boys” test preview/pilot of my style and vision, in the locations with cars, guerrilla style. It rained for most of the day. which had it’s problems but gave me the overcast, grey European look I prefer visually in films.

2006 - September, we send all our documents, budgets, preview reel, short films on dvd etc, and apply for production funding (money to make the film) to the AFC. “Cedar Boys” is shortlisted (great), however we have further meetings and correspondence, and are told that what is still not clear is my vision and style of how I’m going to make the film. I decide to put together a dvd of clips from other films that are similar in style, substance and budget with my commentary to explain how these clips influenced me, what they achieve and how I will do it differently in “Cedar Boys”. It works…

2006 - October, “Cedar Boys” receives $850, 000 form the AFC (which is around 60% of the overall budget). Peter Kaufmann is our project manager.

2006 - November, attend SPAAmart (Screen Producers of Australia Association - market) with producer Matthew Dabner for ‘Cedar Boys’ (as Daniella was overseas). We create a pitch, have a temp/mock-up poster and give out the 2 dvd’s of the preview reel and the visual supporting materials to over 25 local and international distributors, a full on 3 days, and a huge learning curve on how best to ‘sell’ your film and what distributors like. They all like the pitch, but want to wait till the film is finished.

2007 - SBSi offer to come on board with $150,000 -now we’re 75% there… However we still have no distributor and we need one to apply to the New South Wales Film & Television Office (NSWFTO) whom we are seeking around $200k from. We’re still short of our budget which is currently at $1.45mil. Jeff Purser comes on board to raise private finance and seek product placement and sponsorship.

2007 - February, another “Cedar Boys” script workshop with Rob Marchand, actors Fayssal Bazzi and Claire van der Boon at my place. During these months Daniella Ortega and I start meeting editors, post production houses for editing and sound mixing. Suresh Ayyar (editor) reads the script and says he is interested. Also Khaled Sabsabi (peacefender.com) music designer and composer is a likely candidate for the music score. Audioloc post production sound facilities had the most experience with feature films and also gave us the best deal, we’re in good hands.

2007 - March, we tentatively start locking in dates to shoot “Cedar Boys” in August… while still trying to raise the remainder of the finance, and attain a local distributor. Arclight International Films have shown interest as our international sales agent. The 2006 National Literary Awards - Fellowship of Australian Writers (FAW) are announced, “Cedar Boys” is Highly Commended in the Screenplay category.

2007 - ApriI, I start to gather, collate and pitch the film to singers, rappers, DJ’s, including Immortal Technique from the U.S, Matuse from Sydney and dance music from Ministry of Sound (Australia). All part of the overall vision and style of “Cedar Boys”. I’ve learn’t that if you want other artists/people to get involved or contribute, you contact them directly yourself. I did a lot of this and even later on… asking for favours.

2007 - May, some creative differences and a busy schedule leads Daniella Ortega (producer) to quit and pursue other projects. I approach Matthew Dabner & Jeff Purser to continue as producers. We also loose the SBSi money ($150,000). However, the AFC still believe in “Cedar Boys” and increase their initial investment.

2007 - June to October, the project gets bogged down with negotiating my contracts, financing, rejections from private investors, a new federal government initiative called the ‘Producers Rebate; is introduced which gets everyone excited but really doesn’t amount to much in our case. The shoot gets postponed till 2008.

2007 - September, my mother is re-diagnosed with cancer, (originally having breast cancer in 1996). She will have surgery to remove a tumor (lump) near her armpit. then continue with treatments (this is a sad time), I drive out west on any spare/free weekend to see her.

2007 - October, to assist us in our application for the NSWFTO investment, and give them a clear understanding of actors, characters and acting style, I organise a mini casting/workshop session with actors at a studio in Redfern, Sydney. We put down/film 3 scenes from the “Cedar Boys” script, using actors Maeve Dermody, Firass Dirani and Hani Malik. I also revise all my statements (directors, writers and visual style etc) and we apply for funding to the NSWFTO.

2007 - November/December, Mushroom Pictures come on board as our Australian and New Zealand distributor. and finally (after 3 approaches) the NSWFTO green light “Cedar Boys” with a $100,000 investment. We plan on shooting “Cedar Boys” in June/July 2008 with a budget of $1.35mil, and a 25 day shoot.

2008 - January, Joan Sauers comes on board as our new “Cedar Boys” Project Officer for the AFC. I continue with script polishes on draft 6 with Matthew Dabner who is also producing the film. Liz Burton comes on board (volunteers) as my personal assistant.

2008 - February, pre-pre-production begins, including some early castings sessions. Maeve Dermody is tentatively on board for the character of ‘Amie’. Peter Holland is still attached as D.O.P/Camera, Suresh Ayyar as editor, Khaled Sabsabi as composer. Martin Henderson friend and actor (Torque, The Ring, Smoking Aces) loves the “Cedar Boys” script and agrees to play one of the crims ‘Mathew’. However, we loose our line producer.

2008 - March, casting. I call in every actor I know, that I have scouted, tracked down or been notified to check out over the last 6 years for the huge amount of speaking parts in the film. Casting is held at various studios, including my house. Most of the characters are cast very efficiently considering the money, time and resources I had. But, we loose Maeve Dermody due to a scheduling clash with another film. Les Chantery who is now in Los Angeles, is still interested for the character of ‘Tarek’. Marianne Jade (Maura Fay casting) comes on board to assistant in casting for the lead character of ‘Tarek’.
At the same time Les mentions that Rachael Taylor (Transformers) would like to read the script. this is such a sudden surprise, and a very exciting one, as I’ve been aware of her work and think that she would be a perfect ‘Amie’. I say that’s fine and email the latest draft of “Cedar Boys” (the timing?). Les also emails his audition to me -didn’t quite nail it, but I’m impressed by his naivety, innocence and vulnerability as ‘Tarek’.

Around this time I get a message that Rachael loves the script and wants to be in the film as ‘Amie’. Les (jokingly) emails me a photo of both of them together (they kind of fit and look the part). However, there are more hoops and hurdles to get thru as you have to convince everyone to believe and trust in your choices. I collate all the auditions onto a dvd at Converse Media, with ‘a’ ‘b’ and ‘c’ choices and present it to our investors and distributor - Everyone is happy.

2008 - April, casting is completed, with: Les Chantery -‘Tarek’, Waddah Sari -‘Sam’, Buddy Dannoun -‘Nabil’, Rachael Taylor -‘Amie’, Martin Henderson -‘Mathew’, Daniel Amalm -‘Cassar’, Bren Foster -‘Jamal’, Jake Wall -‘Simon’, Hani Malik -’Walid’, Matuse - ‘Hamdi’ and many others… Some of it was planned, others just fell into place. The years of attending plays, studying acting, developing audition techniques and workshopping with actors had finally paid off to get what eventually turned out to be a dream cast for the budget we had. This was a tantamount to the strength of the screenplay. Full Cedar Boys Cast’n'Crew list.

2008 - May, official pre-production begins, Nicole O’Donohue comes on board as our new line producer, however we loose our first assistant director (1st AD). We also start some early location scouting, although at least 60% of the locations were already established due to the gestation of the project and the fact that I had written them into the screenplay. Every Sunday night is movie night at my place with the “Cedar Boys” actors, and every Monday night with Peter Holland (D.O.P/Camera Operator) and Suresh Ayyar (editor). these sessions become another invaluable and informative time spent together… watching early French crime films from the 1950′ and 1960’s right thru the 1970’s and up to present with films from Denmark, Poland and America.

2008 - May/June, Greg Cobain comes on board as our new 1st AD. We start intense rehearsals with actors weeks earlier, although only a week given officially. Storyboarding and shotlisting with Peter Holland and also location scouting with the key creative crew over the next 4 weeks leading up to our first day of the shoot June 14th (pre-shoot day) June 16th official 1st day of shoot.

2008 - June/July, THE SHOOT: 26 days, 37 locations, many mouth ulcers later (average of 2 a week)… with some locations and cars being cancelled or lost, and the odd rainy day including 2 days up at Maitland Jail, we finally made it. Also, Teena Mestres (assistant editor) had started to prepare all our footage to import into the Avid (editing software) for Suresh to start assembling a cut based on the script and my notes. At the end of each days shoot, we would watch the previous days rushes.

2008 - July 19th, our wrap (up) party at Melt bar in Sydney. Everyone let their hair down and left all the stress and tension of the past 2 months behind. We were also privy to a 3min ‘blooper reel’ which included unedited shots from the film to a track from Immortal Technique, the reaction was ecstatic. Here was the first signs that the film was going to look like nothing before it, especially from Australia. However my job was not over, in fact I was only half way there…

2008 - July, while Suresh puts together the first assembly, I go thru 28 dvd’s of rushes (all the footage shot) and do a EDL (edit decision list) and mark up good takes, best bits from other takes and write it all down on a pad over 60 pages. I had already watched the rushes after each days shoot, and made some preliminary notes. but it was good to go through it all and have it fresh going into the edit, which also saves a lot of time.

2008 - August, the first assembly of “Cedar Boys” came in at 138mins, this was concerning, cause watching it I knew it wasn’t going to get much shorter for the rough cut. The rough cut came in at 135mins, it’s a worry. So over the next 6 weeks, Suresh and I had the luxury of a big edit room at Spectrum Films and the job ahead to get the length down to 100mins with credits as I was obliged to.

2008 - September, 17 scenes were cut, and some others were trimmed. We had many test screenings and numerous feedbacks, notes and suggestions. I asked legendary Australian director Bruce Beresford if he could sit in on one of these screenings for me. He gave me some invaluable advice and was very impressed with the performances and story. During these last 3-4 weeks, we started placing some music tracks over certain scenes. These were only a guide, however it lifted the overall dynamic of the film and gave my themes some clarity, ironically most of this music ended up in the film. Khaled Sabsabi (composer) would also come in and play some early samples of music he was creating. Suresh and I got the running time down to 97mins without credits. The picture was locked off on September 5th.

The following week I attend a spotting session at Audioloc (sound and music-mastering and design). Khaled also joined me for this day. Nick Byrnes and 5 others took over the film for the next 5 weeks and where and when required -redesign the atmospheres sounds, foley effects, clean up the dialogue and any ADR (additional dialogue recording) that will be required. I was not required for the first 4 weeks, although I would get phone inquiries and I sat in on the day of the ADR session. During this period, I would drive out to Fairfield East (western Sydney) to where Khaled lived and work on the music with him. This was a fun and creative process and ended up being very fulfilling. On a few occasions, Les Chantery (Tarek), Suresh Ayyar, Matt Dabner (producer) and Hani Malik (actor - ‘Walid’) came out to check out the work in progress…

2008 - October, the overall sound design is done, ADR recorded and now in the last week of this process I join Nick Byrnes to work on finalising the levels, balance and perspectives (direction of sound and music). Khaled has delivered the music and in 6 days the complete sound mix and mastering was done of “Cedar Boys” the movie.

2008 - October/November, I find out that my mother - (who’s been having treatment for the past 12 months) condition is more serious than I was aware.  While I was in the midst of making “Cedar Boys” over these past 6 months, she had decided not to inform me how aggressive the cancer was, so to not distract me from my work. She had been receiving ongoing treatment, which I thought would lead to her recovery, so I was not that present or attending to her as much as I should’ve. I decided to dedicate the film to her… and spend every day away from my film commitments with her from now on.

2008 - November, Warren Lynch from IC Films started on the grading of the picture (colour, contrast and brightness). I briefed Warren earlier about given the film a more green/grey European look. I would sit in on some sessions during the grade and also asked Warren to make some integral colour adjustments within the picture. Also because this was the online, all the slow motion effects that Suresh and I created in the editing with the Avid had to be duplicated during this process also, which had some complications… as it wasn’t as smooth as the Avid.

2008 - December, Screen Australia decide to have a screening for their latest IndiVision participants, we also think this could be an opportunity to invite the cast and crew. December 10th is the first private (open) screening “Cedar Boys”. Although only about half of the cast and crew attend, still approx 300 people turned up. I arrange my mother to be there, albeit very sedated and in a wheelchair, she insisted on being there,  as this was the end of a long 6 year journey for me… and quite an emotional night in the end. The buzz in the air after the screening was well worth it, and everybody knew and felt that the film stood up to all expectations. I cried in my mothers arms at the end, as she sat in her wheel chair. I couldn’t help the feeling, knowing she didn’t have long to go…

2008 - December 29th my mother passed away. She was buried on 31st December, at Rookwood Cemetery, Sydney, at midday on a scourging hot day, nearly 400 people turned up and lot’s, lot’s more were unfortunately away.

2009 - May, ‘Cedar Boys’ will have it’s world premiere at the 56th 2009 Sydney International Film Festival on June 8th & 10th. Both sessions sell out in 10 days, before any of the other 150 films screening at the festival. ‘Cedar Boys’ is also picked up by Hoyts Cinemas for national distribution with Mushroom Pictures, release date July 30th.

2009 - June, ‘Cedar Boys’ wins the ‘Audience Award’ (fiction section) at the 56th Sydney International Film Festival.

Also the screenplay is nominated for an AWGIE by the Australian Writers Guild (AWG) in the ‘Feature Film Original’ category.

2009 - July, ‘Cedar Boys’ is accepted into the 28th 2009 Vancouver International Film Festival, Canada.

2009 - August, ‘Cedar Boys’ is accepted into the 45th 2009 Chicago International Film Festival, USA.

More good news, a nomination for a directing award by the Australian Directors Guild (ADG). Also shortlisted in the ‘Film Script Award’ category for the 2009 Queensland Premier’s Literary Awards.

2009 - September, ‘Cedar Boys’ is accepted into the 46th 2009 Antalya International Film festival, Turkey.

‘Cedar Boys’ is accepted into the 6th 2009 Dubai International Film festival, UAE.

2009 - October, Cedar Boys sells out it’s 3 screenings at the 46th Chicago International Film Festival.

Cedar Boys is nominated for an ‘IF’ Award (Inside Film Magazine) for ‘Best Feature Film’.

Also nominated for an Australian Film Institute (AFI) award, ‘Best Original Screenplay’.

2009 - November, Cedar Boys is the Opening Night film of the Sydney Film Festivals, Traveling Film Festival. Townsville, QLD.

2010 - February, Cedar Boys is accepted into the 16th London Australian Film Festival, UK.